HomeRun Homes Rent to Own Homes Blog

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HomeRun Homes is a centralized marketplace which helps people Find or Sell a Rent to Own Home, both Nationwide and Globally to the thriving Rent to Own Market. http://www.lease2buy.com
Showing posts with label renter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label renter. Show all posts

December 19, 2011

How The Heck Did I Become A Landlord?

Hi Folks,
   Hope all is well, and your Holiday spirit is brimming over the top!
   OK, I certainly agree, the title of this post may be silly, but the topic is anything but silly.

   Amy Hoak did a great job addressing the "Accidental Landlords" in her story for the WSJ. Hoak defined one such landlord as "a landlord not by choice but because of circumstances beyond control", namely, the real-estate crash, in which this particular homeowner was suddenly faced with a choice: "sell for $100,000 less than what she paid, or hold on and hope that prices recover." She chose to hold on, rent the property, and thus, became an "Accidental Landlord". The chaos that ensued was a nightmare, that was harassing neighbors, and made complaints about everything from loud music to dust on her mailbox.

   "Becoming a landlord when a property proves difficult to sell is also a gamble that housing prices will rebound fairly soon, and that the ultimate sale price will more than cover expenses incurred in the meantime.", says Hoak, but with that gamble also comes legal responsibilities, expenses, and "unforeseen headaches"

   Lisa Eckert, a property manager for Coldwell Banker Bain, in Kirkland, Wash, commented in Hoak's article that she thinks we will see "a lot more owners becoming landlords" due to the economy, and says that people are "turning to renting out as the last-ditch effort". For example, Rick Sharga, executive vice president of Santa Ana, Calif.-based Carrington Mortgage Holdings LLC, says that rents are rising and there are millions of potential home buyers who are unable to qualify for mortgages.

   If you find yourself at the threshold of becoming an "Accidental Landlord", there are some tips that were shared that can help you survive, such as high costs (such as taxes, insurance, possible homeowner association dues, maintenance, etc.). For some landlords, Hoak writes that they might be better off hiring a Property Manager. Basically, a Project Manager, who will handle the maintenance, along with collecting the rent and other related services to managing the property, all for a fee that varies regionally and locally.

   Some of the additional tips that will help both new and seasoned landlords survive, include having a strong and enforceable contract, as well as full documentation of all correspondence, expenses, etc, should they ever need paperwork to bolster the reason for an eviction.

   My favorite quote from Hoak's piece came from Jerry Arnold, who has been renting out a condo he owns in Seattle since 2009, and he said the following about renters; "Nobody treats a property like an owner".

   Mr. Arnold, you are correct. However, there is one other group of people out there that also will treat a property like an owner; tenant-buyers, who are signed on to a Rent to Own contract. Basically, why just rent out a home that you can't sell? Why not rent it out with an option to buy, or Rent to Own?

   Does that make sense? What do you think about that statement?

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Have a Great Week, and Happy Rent-to-Owning !
Regards,
Rob Eisenstein
HomeRun Homes Blog: http://blogging.lease2buy.com
HomeRun Homes Websites: http://www.lease2buy.com and http://www.homerunhomes.com

TAGS: #landlord #realestatecrash #rentproperty #risingrent #housingprices #PropertyManager #eviction #RenttoOwn #contract #renter #tenant

November 22, 2011

Oh, Those Crazy Closings!

Good Morning,
   As we all get ready for Turkey overload, I'd like to welcome you back!

   Selling a home? If so, do you savor the day it sells? Is the thought of the sale going through as juicy a thought as the Turkey gravy dancing through your head? Not so fast. "Reaching an agreement doesn't mean your home is as good as sold", writes Margarette Burnette for the HSH.com website article, "4 weird closing glitches (and how to avoid them)".

The Glitches that Burnette writes about are:

1 Liens
2 Termites
3 Renters in residence
4 Parties don't have enough money for closing
* Bonus from my own personal experience - "In writing" !

   Liens, says Cynthia Jones, a real estate attorney with Horack, Talley, Pharr & Lowndes, P.A., a law firm in Charlotte, N.C., are "any unpaid bills you have from delinquent property taxes, homeowners association dues or even past remodeling work", in comments appearing in Burnette's article. For any such liens, Jones suggests that you can "try to work out an agreement with" the party you owe money to", i.e., a payoff.

   As for our wood-chewing nemesis, termites, Barry Hildebrandt, broker/owner of WCI Real Estate in Riverside, Calif, says that "Many home sale contracts are drafted with contingencies that allow the buyer to inspect the home before going through with the sale". What should you do? Make sure you inspect and clear out the little buggers in advance!

   If you have people residing in/renting your property, you will want them out by the Closing, and Jones suggests that you, "make sure your lease agreement provides enough time for your tenants to move before you close on the property and hand the keys over to your buyers".

   The next potential glitch can hit either the buyer, the seller, or both parties. Burnette suggests that buyers should still be "preapproved for their loans in order to help make the process go more smoothly", and warns that if the buyers have not "properly calculated how much they'll need to bring to closing", they could fall very short and it could impact completion of the deal, thus, the Closing.

   If sellers are underwater on their mortgage, says Jones. they may have trouble coming up with the funds to pay off their own loan at closing, however, she suggests that in order avoid such issues, make sure that both parties have a "clear understanding" of the amount of money that needs to change hands at the closing. Sound Advice.

   Here's my bonus tip, prefaced with a little story. When we purchased our home, we were quoted an interest rate 1/4 point below what the Closing papers said. You may scoff at a 1/4 point, but on $400,000, that's big money! To top it off, our mortgage guy was on vacation for the closing. I was able to have his secretary patch me through to him from the closing table, and I shed a piece of my mind on him. Short of delaying the closing (and delaying our movers, etc), we agreed on a compensation to us which turned out to be quite fair. Long story short; get everything in writing before the closing!

   Did we miss anything?

   May you have a blessed and joyous Thanksgiving, and I continue to be thankful for my family, friends, and the joy of writing these posts for your enjoyment. We will not be posting Friday, however, will be back with you during the following week.

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Have a Great Week, and Happy Rent-to-Owning !
Regards,
Rob Eisenstein
HomeRun Homes Blog: http://blogging.lease2buy.com
HomeRun Homes Websites: http://www.lease2buy.com and http://www.homerunhomes.com

TAGS: #closing #lien #termite #renter #realestateattorney #homeownersassociationdues #propertytaxes #payoff #underwater #mortgage #interestrate

November 15, 2011

Where Are Real Estate Investors Putting Their Money?

Hi Folks,
   Glad to have you back.

   Are Real Estate Investors buying homes? Condos? Apartment Buildings and Rentals? Well...kind of

   They are putting their money into real-estate investment trusts, or REITs (shares of professionally managed property portfolios), according to AnnaMaria Andriotis in her article, "Real-Estate Investors Target Neighborhood That Is Looking Up" on the wsj.com website.

   Andriotis cites data from Citigroup Global Markets, which shows that so far this year, investors have "poured roughly $6 billion into publicly traded funds of U.S. REITs which mostly buy commercial properties like apartment buildings, office parks and shopping malls". These figures are up 18% from all of 2010, 400% from 2009, and are at a "pace unseen since before the financial crisis" Further, she says that property REITs have compound annual total returns of 11%, compared to about 4% for stocks, over the past 10 years.

   Aaron Schindler, managing director at New York-based Wealth Advisory Group, says that REITs focusing on apartment buildings in particular have flourished, "thanks to tight mortgage lending, renters who have put off buying a house and foreclosed homeowners who are now renting instead". Further, according to the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts, tTotal returns on apartment buildings and self-storage properties average about 10% and 22%, respectively, year to date through Nov. 9.

   REITs also can serve as inflation hedge, since rents also tend to rise with inflation. P.J. Gardner, an adviser and founding partner at AGW Capital Advisors, an investment consulting firm, says that those increased rents get passed through to shareholders (and by law, REITs must pay at least 90% of their taxable income—rents less expenses—to their shareholders), and thus those dividends offset some of the risks.

   Real Estate Investor? What are your thoughts? Where are you investing?

Would You Like Our Blog Posts Sent Directly to your E-mail? Here's How:
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Have a Great Week, and Happy Rent-to-Owning !
Regards,
Rob Eisenstein
HomeRun Homes Blog: http://blogging.lease2buy.com
HomeRun Homes Websites: http://www.lease2buy.com and http://www.homerunhomes.com

TAGS: #REIT #RealEstateInvestor #ApartmentBuilding #Condo #commercialproperties #foreclosedhomeowners #renter #inflationhedge

August 29, 2011

Rent, Own, or the Hybrid of Rent to Own?

Hi Folks,
   Welcome back, and I hope all of you made it safely through Hurricane Irene, and ironically, this weekend was the 6-Year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. I am still without power, as I post this from a laptop with draining power and through my wireless Droid hotspot. But...the show must go on...

   Oftentimes, when people are renting a home, they get to a point where they realize that they are paying their landlord's mortgage, putting the landlord's kids through college, or any of a million other ways to spin it. But with the complete change in the "norm" that has taken place over the last few years, these thoughts need to be seriously weighed in light of many other factors.

   David Getson, a Realtor with Coldwell Banker Residential in the District of Columbia, was recently quoted in a story by Michele Lerner ("Rent-vs.-own equation changing"), and said that the decision to buy a home vs. rent a home is, “Usually this is an emotional decision rather than a financial one, based on their desire for a dog, to start a family, to put down roots or just to have the ability to paint their walls whatever color they want.”

   Lerner writes that the decision to move from renter to homeowner was "simpler in 2005 for two reasons", which she points to as the "trajectory" of real estate prices that made buyers "comfortable that the property purchase would be a good investment", coupled with the fact that mortgage lenders "made it easy for buyers to qualify, even if they lacked cash and had yet to demonstrate a pattern of creditworthiness." However, she writes, the decision nowadays required "more measured thinking about the emotional impact and the financial implications of purchasing a home."

   Getson advises that potential buyers must look at their lifestyle today and the lifestyle they expect to have in 5+ years. In the same story, Bennett Whitlock, a financial adviser and managing director of Whitlock and Associates in Lake Ridge, Va., said, "becoming a homeowner should be part of an overall financial plan rather than a simple rent-versus-own decision."

   Lerner says that instead of contacting a Realtor as a first step (as most potential buyers do), they really should visit a lender and estimate how much they can borrow. Mark Goldstein, president of Capitol Funding in Rockville, adds that some important factors are Job Security, the amount of time the buyers plan to stay in the home, and suggests that buyers should assume 5+ years in the home to recoup costs and see appreciation (similar to the comments of Getson).

   Financially, Getson says that buyers today, "seem to recognize that their comfort level with the monthly payment is more important than borrowing as much as they are approved for". With that in mind, Whitlock suggests to avoid spending more than 33% of your gross monthly income on housing costs. As for a security cushion to cover home maintenance and repairs, Goldstein recommends that you keep some cash reserves on hand.

   Goldstein suggests that one way he advises buyers to prepare for homeownership is to, "take the difference between their current rent and their prospective mortgage payment and put that money in a savings account each month”, and adds that this helps the prospective buyer "get used to the monthly payment and make sure they are comfortable with it, rather than finding out six months after they bought a house that they are paying too much for their mortgage". Definitely a fantastic idea!

   Rent or Own? Decisions, Decisions...! How about the best of both worlds...Rent to Own? Great idea? Yes, I know...shameful promotion time...Rent to Own Homes via our website (HomeRun Homes). OK, sometimes we plug the site...the idea is not to abuse it !

Would You Like Our Blog Posts Directly to your E-mail? Here's How:
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Have a Great Week, and Happy Rent-to-Owning !
Regards,
Rob Eisenstein
HomeRun Homes Blog: http://blogging.lease2buy.com
HomeRun Homes Websites: http://www.lease2buy.com and http://www.homerunhomes.com

TAGS: #landlord #mortgage #realtor #renter #homeowner #lender #renttoown


August 30, 2010

10 Million New Renters?

Good Morning,


   We hope everyone had a great weekend. We certainly hit a homerun (no pun intended) here on the East Coast with golden sunshine, deep blue skies, and low humidity all weekend long. Ahhh...allergies !!

   When looking over some stories on a Google search the other day, I came across a story titled, "Renter Nation", in which the author says that, "The recession and shifting demographics will swell the ranks of people who will rent, not buy, housing over the next five years", and he deduces that, "roughly 10 million extra folks could be moving into rentals over the next five years". While this could be a frightening prospect for those who are thinking about selling their homes within the next 5 years, this does still hold optimism for some segments of the market.

   Those who are looking to sell their home would not have to stretch far across the table to rent their home with an option to buy, or Rent to Own. More often than not, those looking for a rental home will jump at the opportunity to earn some equity while they are renting. In this respect, these numbers hold promise. For Realtors, they will still earn the rental fee. For those who are renting out homes in the first place, they could see a surge in demand, which might potentially drive up some rental prices in certain areas.

   What would be the "Butterfly Effect" of such increases in rental prices? Good Economic sense tells us what should happen, but things have been so very far off from common sense over the past few years, that I would not even venture a guess. We welcome your opinions and comments on this question.

Have a Great Week, and Happy Rent-to-Owning !

July 15, 2010

What Tenants Look For In a Rental Property

Hi Everyone,

Yes, we know that we don't usually post on Thursdays, however, we wanted to pass along a great article that we were interviewed for, called, "What Tenants Look For In a Rental Property". In that article, w have listed the 10 most common things that tenants were looking for in a home over the past 60 days.

To Summarize, these 10 items are:
1. Double Garage/2 Car Garage
2. Some Land/Acreage
3. Must Allow Pets
4. Pool
5. School District
6. Basement – Nice Size & Finished Basement
7. Proximity to transportation (Bus/Subway, etc)
8. Backyard Would Be Nice. A Three Bedroom Would Also Work.
9. Fireplace.
10. Washer/Dryer Hook Up


We were very kindly referred to as, "HomeRun Homes (www.Lease2Buy.com), a rent-to-own classifieds powerhouse" and "...a highly-ranked online classifieds service exclusively for rent-to-own properties", of which we are very proud of! The full article can be seen here: http://www.american-apartment-owners-association.org/blog/2010/07/14/what-tenants-look-for-in-a-rental-property/


Have a Great Day, and Happy Rent-to-Owning !!